Workers remove snow from the upper seats at TCF Stadium in Minneapolis, Friday, Dec. 17, 2010. Monday night's NFL game between the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings will be played at the stadium because of the Metrodome's snow-damaged roof. (AP Photo/The Star Tribune, Bruce Bisping) — AP

Workers remove snow from the upper seats at TCF Stadium in Minneapolis, Friday, Dec. 17, 2010. Monday night's NFL game between the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings will be played at the stadium because of the Metrodome's snow-damaged roof. (AP Photo/The Star Tribune, Bruce Bisping)
/ AP

Workers remove snow from the upper seats at TCF Stadium in Minneapolis, Friday, Dec. 17, 2010. Monday night's NFL game between the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings will be played at the stadium because of the Metrodome's snow-damaged roof. (AP Photo/The Star Tribune, Bruce Bisping) — AP

Workers remove snow from the upper seats at TCF Stadium in Minneapolis, Friday, Dec. 17, 2010. Monday night's NFL game between the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings will be played at the stadium because of the Metrodome's snow-damaged roof. (AP Photo/The Star Tribune, Bruce Bisping)
/ AP

MINNEAPOLIS 
A Minnesota Vikings executive said Friday that the team is concerned about the safety of the Metrodome after a winter storm caused the building's roof to collapse, but he didn't rule out the team playing there next season.

The Vikings have long pursued a new stadium paid for mostly by taxpayers, and next year is the final year of their lease on the Dome. Vice President Lester Bagley didn't directly address that issue in discussing the outlook for next season.

"We're going to have to dig into that and get an honest assessment of that," Bagley said. "Some people would say, 'Well, a couple of shingles come off the roof you don't build a new barn.' Well, the roof collapsed. We have concerns about the safety of the facility going forward."

Minnesota is dealing with a state budget deficit of more than $6.2 billion that has to be handled first, but Gov. Mark Dayton and legislative leaders have said they're open to a good stadium plan. A state lawmaker plans to introduce a proposal by late January.

Bagley said the Vikings are focused on Monday night's game with the Chicago Bears at the University of Minnesota's TCF Bank Stadium. The game will mark a return to outdoor football in Minnesota after the Vikings spent the past 29 years in the Dome.

"It's all hands on deck. We've got to get this game off," Bagley said. "The point is it's going to be a great game on 'Monday Night Football.'"

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said Friday that the game is on track to be played at TCF Bank Stadium, and there are no plans to move it elsewhere despite major logistical issues. The league sent out an e-mail later in the day touting pro football's return to the outdoors in Minnesota for the first time since 1981.

The storm that wrecked the Metrodome roof dumped more than 17 inches of snow on Minneapolis, and hundreds of workers spent several days removing snow from the university stadium.

By Friday afternoon, most of the snow had been cleared from field and seating areas of the stadium. Officials planned to begin laying a tarp on the artificial turf Friday evening, and would begin pumping warm air under the tarp to keep the field from freezing, said Scott Ellison assistant university athletic director.

Several players have said they're worried about the risk of injury from a frozen field, but university athletics spokesman Garry Bowman said the field would be ready by Monday. He said the field was already soft thanks to the layer of snow that insulated it from the cold.

"The field is in better shape today than it was for the Gophers' last game of the season," Bowman said, referring to the school's Nov. 27 game against Iowa. "Before that Iowa game, we had a lot of freezing and thawing, so we had a lot of ice patches to clear."

Workers were grooming the field Friday, and adding more rubber to the turf to create a better surface for players, Ellison said. The university was also looking at other heating options, including the possibility of using the field's drainage system to heat it from underneath, he said.